Putting Citizenship into Perspective: (A)part of the Problem or the Solution?

Political struggles for change and inclusion by groups of previously marginalised and would be citizens have been taking a center stage in world politics recently. The momentum and worldwide scale of new types of social movements, such as the #Metoo movement, serve as testimonies of the continued significance of liberal ideals. At the same time however, an increasingly large segment of regular citizens and much of the political elite have begun to express support for more polarising ideals, including populism, ethno-centric nationalism and chauvinism. These developments have placed enormous pressure on the ideals of social justice, equality and liberty, putting them into a distinct state of transition. Against this backdrop, our conventions of what citizenship is or ought to be are in flux. In order to really understand at what point and why have the exercising of civic and political rights begun to appear as undemocratic, we must ‘return to the basics’ and put citizenship into broader social, political and historical perspectives. We thus invite contributions which consider recent empirical developments in the light of broader trends in the field of citizenship studies. We are especially interested in contributions aiming to resolve questions of “who is a (good) citizen?”, considering senses of belonging, rights, duties and participation, “what is citizenship?”, “where are its boundaries?” and “how its models are devised today?”, among others. The expansion of citizenship from a mere legal status to a comprehensive moral and political practice has dovetailed scholarly interest in these questions. Recent developments which appear to reverse such an expansionist reading of citizenship seem to require that scholars revisit and re-address the very same questions, simplifying their approach and shifting their focus from “the doer” to “the deed”, and further to "how the deed is done".